


Nothing can resolve if nothing ever starts

by znake



Series: you wouldn't believe [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Idiots in Love, M/M, Pining, Sanji Is Not A Vinsmoke, zoro being made fun of by women
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25954057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/znake/pseuds/znake
Summary: Zoro's in love with Sanji. The women in his life won't let him live it down.
Relationships: Kuina & Roronoa Zoro, Nami & Roronoa Zoro, Nico Robin & Roronoa Zoro, Perona & Roronoa Zoro, Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Series: you wouldn't believe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885597
Comments: 10
Kudos: 259





	Nothing can resolve if nothing ever starts

**Author's Note:**

> title from Skulls by Civilian

He didn’t remember when, how, or why it had started. One moment, he had been watching Sanji smoke, and the next he had realised - Oh, I’m in love with the damn idiot.

He’d been running ever since. From the cook, his friends, his own feelings. It didn’t matter who reached out to him, he would simply turn his back and run. (Metaphorically of course. Zoro would never actually run from anyone.)

Nami had been the first to notice, or at least the first to comment on it. Alabasta had come and gone, Vivi with it, and Zoro had found himself dragged to a shady bar, where Nami had promptly bought them enough drinks to get men far bigger than them falling to the floor. Neither of them so much as stumbled on their way back.

“This is going in your debt” She'd threatened, halfway through. He’d nodded, knowing her heart wasn’t there.

And as they sat there, empty barrels all around them, she’d stated the obvious. 

“You’re in love with Sanji.” 

He nodded again. No point in denying what she already knew. There was no point lying either.

“Congrats, or I’m sorry.” (Zoro didn’t know which one was appropriate either. He appreciated the sentiment.)

“Thanks. Should we get some snacks?”

She nodded, and they spent the rest of the night snacking and drinking. (In the end, Nami only made him pay for the snacks. The threat always remained, however.)

It had been their ritual, ever since, to go off drinking, just the two of them. Sometimes they talked, often, they didn’t.

(That’s what best friends did, and Nami and Zoro did their best to be damn good best friends.)

\--

Robin was a separate entity entirely. She was different from almost everyone else Zoro had met. Usually, he could fit people in one of a few categories. Allies, Enemies, Family, and Freaks. (Few people were categorised as freaks. He’d made that category after meeting Buggy, and the only other person in it was the woman with Kuina’s face, although for wildly different reasons.)

At first, she had been an enemy. Then, an ally. But even then he didn’t know how to feel about her. And thus, he added a fifth category, called it “I have no goddamn clue”, and placed her in it.

He wanted to trust her, as Luffy did. But he considered it his job as first mate to be skeptical, and so he was.

So he’d been skeptical when she’d invited him shopping with her, skeptical when she’d taken him to a bookstore, and even more skeptical when she’d handed him one of her purchased books. 

“A gift, Mr. Swordsman.” (It was in the way she distanced herself that Zoro felt something was wrong. He just couldn’t place his finger on what.)

He’d taken it, pulled by the flow, and managed a brisk “Thanks” while he was at it.

And with that, they had headed back to the ship.

Now, Zoro was not illiterate, despite what some might think. His handwriting might have looked like a chimp’s finest work (apologies to any chimps reading), but he was perfectly able to read and write. He just didn’t. Didn’t see the point. But a gift was a gift, and so Zoro sat down and begrudgingly began to read.

After two hours, he’d barely made a dent. He’d made it to the tenth page, forgotten the hero’s name, and gotten distracted by a side character that reminded him of Chopper.

He was so distracted, eyes staring unfocused at the pages in front of him, that he didn’t even register Sanji’s presence until he felt a kick to his back, making him drop his book and lose his page. (Not that it mattered, he probably should have started at the beginning again.)

“Marimo, rice balls- wait, is that a book?”

Zoro grunted, averting his eyes. Damn the cook and his timing. Sanji placed the dish down, and walked over to pick the book up. Zoro could feel the mockery coming, so he just sighed and resigned himself to another fight.

To his shock, Sanji’s jeer turned into a surprised look, followed by a wide smile (god, that smile), his fingers flipping through the book.

“This is _The Lonely Summer_! I didn’t know you liked mysteries, Marimo.”

In that moment, Zoro decided that yes, he did indeed like mysteries. “I like how, uh, Joshua?-”

“Joseph.” Sanji corrected him.

“-How Joseph decides to go rogue within two weeks of being a police detective. And his sidekick, uh, Angus? Reminds me of-”

“Chopper!” Sanji interjected. Zoro nodded vigorously. And, after a beat, they both burst into childish giggles.

Maybe books weren’t so bad, Zoro decided as he finished it a few days later. And if Robin had gifted him the other books in the series, a knowing smile on her face, well, he supposed she couldn’t be all that bad.

(He wasn’t sure what to get her as a thank you gift. Nami suggested cash, and Luffy food. He’d settled on buying her a bonsai like his teacher had kept in the dojo. One that grew flowers that glowed in the dark like stars.)

\--

The worst part of arriving on a new island was always the kids. He liked kids, he supposed, like one liked the sun or the moon. They had and would always exist, and nothing could change that. 

Kids, however, seemed to love Zoro. Something about the scars, swords, the everything made him the talking point of many a group of children. It was entertaining to hear them theorise about who he was and where he was coming from. (The best were the kids that guessed his age wrong. Most of them seemed to think he was in his 30s.)

The real shame was that they all reminded him of Kuina. Most things did, after all. She was family.

“I think I’d like to be in love.” She’d announced at lunch one day.

He’d stared at her blankly. The only things he’d loved back then were rice, swords, and fighting. (And his family, though he’d never have admitted it.)

“Whaiy?” he’d asked, mouth full of rice.

“Well, for one, all the stuff people give you when you’re in love. Like- flowers. And food.”

“How about swords?”

She’d nodded sagely. “They give you swords too.”

The next day, as he fruitlessly tried to win against her, she’d added, “I think love’s gotta be fighting next to someone as strong as you.”

Zoro didn’t understand at the time, couldn't imagine anyone as strong as Kuina. (Of course, he’d be stronger than her one day. But he didn’t think that’s what she was talking about.)

Years later, fighting besides the cook, Zoro couldn’t help but think about just how right she’d been. 

Fighting alongside Sanji felt right. He didn’t know how else to put it. They’d spent so damn long fighting each other, which was always fun, but fighting together felt like dancing. (Not that Zoro danced. He would, if Sanji asked. He’d do anything for him. Damned love.)

Fighting with an equal was, as Perona had once put it (drunk on stolen wine), one of Zoro’s “love languages”. 

The final straw, however, was Sanji returning from a shopping trip, wrapped gifts in a bag for all his crewmates. Some local delicacy for Luffy (Sanji recreated it a few days later. Luffy claimed it to be better than the original.), a new protractor for Nami, some spices for Usopp, a snowglobe for Chopper, a rare book for Robin, an unidentifiable gizmo for Franky, and a cravat for Brook.

Zoro hadn’t been expecting a gift (he never expected anything. He wouldn’t do that to him.), yet he still found Sanji handing him a small, flat package. He carefully tore it open, only to find a sword shaped bookmark.

“As a celebration for you becoming literate.” Sanji proclaimed. Zoro swore he saw the tip of his ears redden, but it could have been the sun in his eyes again. 

(Zoro made sure to use the bookmark. In fact, he made a habit of opening a book just to stare at the fake sword. A gift, for him of all people.)

(Nami slapped him during their next drinking session, calling him an insufferable moron.)

\--

Even after reuniting on Saobody, Zoro continued to ignore his problem. He’d grown in that regard. He no longer denied it, just ignored it.

Ignored how Sanji’s hair glowed in the evening sun, ignored the pangs in his chest everytime they (still) fought, and specifically ignored Nami’s pointed looks everytime she found him staring.

“You’re a fool”, Perona had told him, after they’d snuck down to get some midnight snacks. (They’d failed. Mihawk had been waiting for them, and had admonished them with an I’m-not-mad-just-disappointed look. They’d scuttled back up to Perona’s room empty handed.)

She was painting his nails, something he’d realised he quite enjoyed. And somehow, she always managed to get him to talk while she did it.

“You should have told him. Sounds like you don’t have much to lose.” She continued, dipping her brush back into the green paint. “If he hates you, he probably won’t hate you anymore. And if he’s just a tsundere-” Zoro didn’t know what that meant, but couldn’t be bothered to ask, “-then you might still have a chance.”

“You don’t- you don’t understand.” he replied weakly.

She cocked an eyebrow at that, which shut Zoro up. 

Damn this island. Had they been anywhere else, he wouldn't have had to listen to her, but here they were, forced to spend the next two years together. The worst part was that he knew he was starting to like spending time with her. Absolutely awful.

“I mean, he gave you a bookmark. I wouldn’t give a gift to someone I hated. In fact, I can count on one hand the people I would give a gift to.”

He let his head fall, handing her his left hand. He knew Sanji didn’t hate him, their relationship was more than that.

But it was terrifying to think of it any other way.

She continued painting his nails, chatting on and on about the dos and don’ts of courting someone. 

“Zoro, as your older sister-” something he didn’t remember agreeing to, “-I have a lot more experience than you. In life, and in love.”

He glanced around her room, filled with stuffed animals and other toys.

“Sure.”

She carefully put down the nailpolish, and promptly kicked him.

Damn that woman.

\--

And despite everything, Zoro still loved Sanji. It was horrible, frankly. The cook had almost died of blood loss, what, three times since they’d arrived at Fishmen Island? And everytime, he found himself sitting at his damn bedside, waiting on him to wake up.

“Dumbass.” he muttered, brushing Sanji’s hair out of his left eye, the way he knew the cook now wore it. (A mirror of his lost eye, he mused. How ironic.)

Here he was, picture perfect, the same he’d existed in Zoro’s memories for the last two years. Worse even, he was…

“Beautiful.” Zoro exhaled. 

He clasped his hand over his mouth, realising too late he’d said that bit out loud. His eyes darted around the room, making sure no one was around.

They were alone, still. He relaxed his hand and sighed in relief.

“I’d much rather be called handsome, you know.”

Zoro started at the voice. (Fuck-)

“But I’ll take what I can get.”

(Fuck fuck fuck-)

“I can explain-”

Zoro was cut off by the feeling of hands on his face, pulling him in for a messy and imperfect (and amazing and incredible) kiss.

(Oh.)

And Zoro kissed back, years of want finally breaking through the dam in his heart. His hands found Sanji’s face, his neck, his hands, and he kissed and kissed and kissed.

(He was fucked.)

And as they pulled away, breathless and gasping for air, foreheads pressed together, Sanji laughed. (The sound of angels, bells, shooting stars, the sea in the morning as the sun breaks-)

And suddenly, he found the words.

“I love you.” (Perona and Nami had been right. He was a fool and a moron.)

“I love you too.” (But he was Sanji’s fool, Sanji’s moron, and that was enough for him.)

\--

(They decided to tell the crew immediately, since there was no use hiding it. Franky, Usopp, and Chopper cried. Brook wrote them a song. Robin just smiled. Luffy hugged them both for a good long time. And Nami added a PDA tax to their debts.)

(Zoro had never been happier.)

**Author's Note:**

> haha so basically... i wrote this in my notebook on the plane to the US and typed it up last night. shout out to gummy for proofreading. follow me on twitter @sodiepopgaming for absolutely nothing like this.


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